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Thou Shalt Not Steal

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 13, 1869

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 33, No. 16.

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“Thou Shalt Not Steal.”

By W. H. Ball

In looking over the appointments in the World's Crisis, and Voice of the West, I notice several instances where the term Sabbath is applied to the first day of the week. I regard this as a violation of the eighth commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not steal.” It is not enough for first-day Adventists to trample under foot the fourth commandment, but they must steal the title which God placed upon his holy, sanctified rest-day, the seventh, and apply it to the first day of the week, a day the Bible nowhere calls a Sabbath.
It is bad enough for men to steal from their fellow men; but to steal from the great God seems to be the hight of wickedness. If men wish to keep the first instead of the seventh day, the day on which God rested, which he blessed, sanctified, and called “the Sabbath,” “my Sabbath,” “my holy day,” etc., they can do so. But I do protest against their calling it the Sabbath. God recognizes but one day in seven as the Sabbath, and that is the seventh day of the week and no other.
If others choose to keep the first day because it is more convenient, or congenial to their own feelings, let them call it by its own name, “first-day of the week,” or Sunday. Some of our no-law friends have shown a degree of honesty in this respect. Others show their dishonesty, or inconsistency, in calling it the Sabbath. Let us call things by their right names.
W. H. BALL.
Washington, N. H.